Book of Jasher (Sefer haYashar) 16

~259~ And in the second month on the first of the month, God spoke to Moses as follows. You are the head of every male of the children of Israel from twenty years of age and older, you and Aaron your brother and the twelve leaders of Israel. And Moses did so, and Aaron and the twelve leaders of Israel came and commanded the children of Israel in the Sinai desert. And there will be all the officials of the children of Israel for their fathers' house from twenty years old and upwards, six hundred thousand three thousand five hundred and fifty. And the Levites did not function within their fellow Israelites. And the number of every male of the children of Israel from one month old and up, two and twenty thousand three seventy two hundred. And the orders of the sons of Levi from a month old and up, two and twenty thousand. And Moses assigned the priests and the Levites, every man according to his work and his burden, to work the Tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting as God commanded Moses. And on the twentieth day of the month the cloud ascended above the Tabernacle of the Testimony. At that time the children of Israel went on their journeys from the Sinai desert and walked for three days and the cloud dwelled in the desert of Paran, the name of which even God was angry with Israel because they angered God by asking him for meat to eat. And God heard their voice and gave them meat, and they ate it for a month. And after that there was a curse, but God struck them with a great blow, and they buried her in that place. And the children of Israel called that place the graves of lust, because there they buried the people who lusted after flesh. And they traveled from the tombs of lust and camped in the courtyards in the wilderness of Paran. And it came to pass while the children of Israel were in the courts, that God was also angry with Miriam because of Moses, and Miriam was leprous as snow. And it will be shut up outside the camp for seven days until the assembly from its leprosy, and then the Israelites left the courts and camped at the edge of the desert of Paran. At that time, God spoke to Moses to send twelve men from the Israelites, one man per tribe, to go scout the land of Canaan. And Moses sent them twelve men, and they went to the land of Canaan to explore and explore, and they traversed the whole land from the desert of Sin to the road to come to Hamath. And they came to Moses and Aaron at the end of forty days, and they answered the same thing when it was with their hearts. And the ten men brought forth a slander against the land, which they threw at the children of Israel, saying, It is good for us that Egypt reigned over this land again, for it is a land that eats up its inhabitants. And Joshua ben Nun and Caleb ben Yefuna were among those who lifted up the land and said, The land is very, very good. If God willed us, and brought us to that land and gave it to us, because it is a land flowing with milk and honey. And the children of Israel did not listen to them, and they listened to the words of the ten men who slandered the land.

~260~ And G-d heard the complaints of the children of Israel and punished and swore to say, if anyone from this evil generation should see the land from the age of twenty years and older, but if Caleb son of Yiphon and Joshua son of Nun. If not in this desert, this evil generation will die, and their sons will come to the land and they will inherit it. And the Lord was angry with Israel and they were in the wilderness forty years, until the end of all the evil generation that did not come after the Lord. And the people sat in the desert of Paran for many days, and then they traveled from the desert through the Red Sea. At that time, Korah ben Yitzhar ben Kohath ben Levi took many people from the Israelites, and they stood up and commanded Moses and Aaron and the whole congregation. And God was jealous of them, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their houses and all that they had, and all the people that were in the land. And it came to pass after that, that God led the people through Seir for many days. At that time God said to Moses, Do not provoke a war with the sons of Esau because I will not give you from them even a footpath, because I gave Mount Seir as an inheritance to Esau. Therefore, the sons of Esau fought against the sons of Seir in the first days, and God gave the sons of Seir into the hands of the sons of Esau and destroyed them before them, and they lived under them until this day. Therefore God said to the children of Israel, do not fight with the children of Esau, your brothers, because you do not have a nation from their land. But you shall break food from them with money and drink, and the children of Israel shall do as God said. And the children of Israel walked in the wilderness by the way of Mount Seir for many days and did not touch the children of Esau, and they walked that way for nineteen years. And it happened at that time that Letianus, king of the sons of Kitim, died in the forty-fifth year of his reign, which is the fourteenth year of the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. And they buried him in his palace that he built for him in the land of Kitim, and Abianus reigned thirty-eight years under him. And the children of Israel crossed the border of the children of Esau in those days at the end of nineteen years, and they came and passed through the desert of Joab. And God said to Moses, Do not afflict Moab and do not fight with them, for I will not give you their land, and the children of Israel passed through the desert of Moab for nineteen years, and they did not fight with them.

~261~ And it came to pass in the thirty-sixth year that the children of Israel came out of Egypt, and God struck the heart of Sihon, king of the Amorites. And he will make war and go out to fight the children of Moab. And Sihon sent messengers to Beor son of Yunus, son of Balaam, the adviser of the king of Egypt, and to Balaam his son, to curse Moab so that it would be given into Sihon's hand. And the angels of Sihon went and brought Beor the son of Yunus and Balaam his son from Pethor of Aram Narayim. And Ur and Balaam his son came to the city of Sihon, and cursed Moab and their king in the sight of Sihon the king of the Amorites. And Sihon went out with all his army and went to Moab, and fought with them and subdued them, and the Lord delivered them into his hand. And Sihon killed the king of Moab and Sihon took all the cities of Moab in the war, and also took the account of them because the account of the cities of Moab is. And Sihon put his ministers and his elders in the reckoning, and there was a reckoning to Sihon in those days. Therefore, the governors will say about her in the skin and Balaam son, like these words to say. Let the account be built and the city of Sihon established, woe to you Moab lost with Chemosh, here it is written on the book of God's Torah. And it happened when Sihon defeated Moab, and put guards in the cities he had taken from Moab. And the children of Moab fell many in the war at the hand of Sihon, and there was a great captivity of them, sons and daughters, and his king was killed, and Sihon was defeated, and he returned to his land. And Sihon gave many linens and portions of silver and gold to Beor and to Balaam his son, and he fought, and they went to their place and to their country. At that time all the children of Israel passed through the desert of Moab, and returned and returned to the desert of Edom. And all the congregation will come from the desert of Zin in the first month, in the fortieth year of their departure from Egypt. And the children of Israel dwelt there in the sanctuary of the desert of China, and Miriam died there and was buried there. At that time Moses sent angels to Hadad, king of Edom, to say, Thus said your brother Israel, I will pass through your land, we will not pass through the field and the vineyard, and we will not drink water from the well, we will go the way of the king. And Edom said to him, You shall not pass through me, and Edom went out to meet the children of Israel with a heavy people. And the children of Esau believed, and he let the children of Israel pass through their land. Because before this God commanded the children of Israel to say that you shall not fight the children of Esau, therefore Israel leaned against him and did not fight with them. And the children of Israel traveled over the children of Esau from the temple, and the whole congregation came to the mountain.

~262~ At that time God spoke to Moses, say to Aaron your brother will gather there because he will not come to the land that I have given to the Israelites. And Aaron went up according to God's word to the mountain and died there, in the fortieth year of the fifth month on the first of the month. And Aharon son of one hundred and twenty-three years old at his death on Mount Har. And the Canaanite king of Arad, who lives in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming through the Etherites, and he would prepare his army to fight Israel. And the children of Israel were greatly afraid of him because he had a great and very heavy army, and they gave heart to the children of Israel to return from Egypt. And the children of Israel returned behind them as a march of three days until the passage of the children of Yaakan, because they would be greatly afraid of the king of Arad. And the children of Israel could not go back to their place, and they stayed with the children of Jacob for thirty days. And it came to pass when the children of Levi saw that the children of Israel refused to return, and they became jealous of God and rose up and fought Israel their brothers. And they will kill a great people of them, and they will sit firmly in their place, the mountain, the mountain. And it happened upon their return, and the king of Arad was still preparing his army for war against Israel. And Israel vowed to say, if given, you will give this people into my hands and I will confiscate their cities. And God heard the voice of Israel and gave the Canaanites into their hands, and confiscated them and their cities and called the name of the place Harma. And the children of Israel traveled from the mountain and encamped in Ovos. And they traveled from Uva and camped among the Hebrews on the border of Moab. And the children of Israel sent to Moab to say, Please pass through your land until my place. And the father of the Moabites did not let Israel go in their own land, because the Moabites would be very afraid. Lest the children of Israel do to them as Sihon the king of the Amorites did to them, who took their land and killed many of them. Therefore, Moab did not let Israel go in his country, and God commanded the children of Israel to say not to fight Moab and Israel over Moab. And the children of Israel journeyed from the border of Moab and came past Arnon on the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. And they camped on the border of Sihon king of the Amorites, in the wilderness of Kedom. And the children of Israel sent angels to Sihon, the king of the Amorites, saying, Let us pass through your land. And Sihon did not allow Israel to pass through his border, and Sihon gathered all the Amorite people, and went out into the desert to meet the Israelites and fought against Israel in Jehza. And the Lord gave Sihon, the king of the Amorites, into the hand of Israel, and Israel put all the people of Sihon to the sword, and he avenged the vengeance of Moab.

~263~ And the children of Israel inherited Sihon from Arnon to Yabuk to the children of Ammon, and they took all the spoil of the cities. And Israel took all these cities, and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites. And all the children of Israel said to fight the children of Ammon, to take all their land also from them. And God said to the children of Israel, do not trouble the children of Ammon and provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land. And the children of Israel obeyed the word of God, and did not fight the children of Ammon. And the children of Israel turned and went up through Bashan, the land of Og, king of Bashan. And Og the king of Bashan went out to meet Israel for war, and with him many mighty men of valor, and a very strong hand from the people of the Amorites. And Og, the king of Bashan, is a very valiant and heroic man, and we will admire him as a very heroic man, more heroic than himself. And Og said in his heart, here is the whole camp of Israel marching three furlongs now as one without sword or spear. And Og Hera went up and took a large stone from there, three furlongs long, and put it on his head and said to throw it on the camp of the Israelites to kill all Israel with that stone. And the angel of God came and struck that stone from Og's head, and the stone fell on Og's neck, and Og fell to the ground because of the falling of the stone on his neck. At that time God said to the children of Israel do not be afraid of him because I have given him and all his people and all his land into your hands, and you did to him as you did to Sihon. And Moses went down to him with Matthew, a number of the Israelites, and Moses struck the yoke with his staff to his ankles and killed him. And after that the Israelites persecuted the sons of Og and all his people and destroyed them until there was not a remnant left for them. After that, Moses sent one of the Israelites to spy on Jaezer, because Jaezer was a very cheerful girl. And the spies went to Jazer and spied on her, and the spies trusted in God, and they fought the men of Jazer. And those people captured Jazer and her daughters, and the Lord gave them into their hands, and they inherited the Amorites who were there. And the children of Israel took the land of the two kings of the Amorites, sixty cities on the other side of the Jordan from the Arnon river to Mount Hermon. And the children of Israel journeyed and came to the plains of Moab, which is beyond the Jordan to Jericho. And the children of Moab heard all the evil that the children of Israel had done to the two kings of the Amorites, to Sihon and to Og, and all the people of Moab were greatly afraid of the children of Israel.

~264~ And the elders of Moab said, here are the two kings of the Amorites, Sihon and Og, the strongest of all the kings of the land, did not stand before the children of Israel, and how shall we children stand? They did not send messengers to us before this to pass from our country to their way and we did not leave them, now they will return on us with their hard sword and destroy us what Sihon left of him. And Moab shall be cut off from the children of Israel, and they shall be greatly afraid of them, and shall consult with the children of Israel what to do. And the elders of Moab said, and one of their men took Balak son of Zippor the Moabite and made him king over them at that time, and Balak was a very wise man. And the elders of Moab arose and sent to the sons of Midian to make peace with them, because there was a great war and hatred between Moab and Midin in those days from the days of Hadad son of Badad, king of Edom, who was striking Midin in the field of Moab until those days. And the children of Moab sent to the children of Midian and made peace with them, and the elders of Midian in the land of Moab came to peace with the children of Midian. And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian consulted what to do for them, to save their lives from Israel. And all the children of Moab said to the elders of Midian, Now the children of Israel will lick all around us like an ox's udder the greens of the field because they did such and such to the two kings of the Amorites who were stronger than him. And the elders of Midian said to Moab, We have heard a mighty one when Sihon king of the Amorites fought with you, and his hand prevailed against you and he took your land. Because he sent to Boor the son of Yunus and to Balaam his son from Aram Narayim and they came and cursed you, therefore the hand of Sihon prevailed against you and he captured your land. And now please also send to Balaam our son, for here we are still in his country, and give him his reward, and he will come and curse all the people whom you fear from them. And the elders of Moab heard this thing, and it was good in their eyes to send to Balaam son of Boor, and Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent angels to Balaam to say. Behold, a people came out of Egypt, behold, they covered the whole land, and he sits before me. And now, please show him to me because he is bigger than me, maybe I will be able to fight him and his banishment, because I have heard what you will bless from a blessed one and what you will light up. And the angels of Balak went to Balaam to curse the people to fight Moab. And Balaam came to Balak to curse Israel. And the Lord said to Balaam, Do not light the people, for blessed is He. Balak ordered Balaam to curse Israel day after day, and Balaam did not listen to Balak because of the word of God which he spoke to Balaam.

~265~ And Balak saw that Balaam did not listen to his words and got up and went to his place, and Balaam also returned to his country and went from there to Medina. And the children of Israel traveled west of Moab, and encamped on the Jordan from Beth Hashimot to Abel Shitim at the edge of the Moab plains. And it came to pass on the Sabbath of the children of Israel at Nahal Shitim, and they began to fornicate with the daughters of Moab. And the children of Israel came before Moab, and the children of Moab pitched their tents against the camp of the children of Israel. And Moab will be afraid of Israel and the children of Moab will take all their daughters and all their wives who are beautiful in appearance and good in appearance, and they will clothe them with silver and gold and expensive clothes. And the children of Moab put the women here at the door of their tents, so that the children of Israel would see them and turn to them and not fight Moab. And all the children of Moab did this thing to the children of Israel, and each man placed his daughter and each man his wife at the door of his tent. And all the children of Israel saw what the children of Moab did, and the children of Israel turned to the daughters of Moab, and they lusted after them and went to them. And when the Hebrew came to the door of the tent of Moab, he saw the daughter of Moab, and he desired her in his heart, and the door of the tent spoke to her as he desired. And it came to pass as they said, and all the people of the tent came to them and spoke to the Hebrew according to these words. Didn't you know that we are all brothers together, the sons of Lot and the sons of Abraham his brother, and why don't you sit with us and why don't you eat our bread and our sacrifices. And it came to pass that the children of Moab fought against him with their words, and incited him with the part of their words, and the camp made him sit, and slaughtered him, and sacrificed to him, and he ate of their sacrifice and their bread. And they gave him wine and he drank and made him drunk, and they set a beautiful girl before him and he did as he pleased with her because he did not know that she had drunk a lot of wine. This is how the Moabites will do to Israel at that place in Nahal Shitim. And God was also angry with Israel for this thing and sent a plague among them, and twenty-four thousand people from Israel died. And here was a man from the sons of Shimon Zimri son of Salva, and he brought the woman of Midian, Kezvi daughter of Tire, king of Midin, in the sight of all the children of Israel. And Phinehas ben Eleazar ben Aaron the priest saw this evil thing that Zmari had done. And he took a spear and went after them and stabbed them both and killed them, and the plague stopped from the Israelites.

~266~ At that time after the plague, God said to Moses and to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest as follows. Take all the heads of the congregation of the children of Israel from the age of twenty years and above, every veteran, and Moses and Eleazar put the children of Israel in charge of their families, and there will be in charge of all Israel seven hundred thousand seven hundred and thirty. And the orders of the sons of Levi from a month old and up, three and twenty thousand. And among these there was no one from the command of Moses and Lazarus who commanded in the Sinai desert. Because God said to them they will die in the desert, and they will all die and there will be no one left of them except Caleb son of Yefuna and Joshua son of Nun. And it came to pass after that, that the Lord said to Moses, Tell the children of Israel to avenge from Midian the vengeance of their brothers, the children of Israel. And Moses did so, and twelve thousand of the Israelites were chosen from them. A thousand down, and they will go to Medina. And the children of Israel fought against Midian and killed every male, and also killed the five princes of Midian and Balaam son of Boor with the sword. And the children of Israel resettled the women of Midian and their sheep, and all their cattle and all that they had. And they took all the booty and all the food, and brought it to Moshe and Eleazar to the plains of Moab. And Moshe and Eleazar and all the leaders of the community went out to meet them with joy. And they crossed over all the spoil of Midian to Israel. And the children of Israel took the spoils of Midian, and the children of Israel avenged the revenge of their brothers, the children of Israel.